Prospect Talent Score

Probability of Success

History

2010-11: Yan-Pavel Laplante played for the Chateauguay Patriotes in the Quebec Midget AAA league. He scored 6 goals with 8 assists in 25 games and had 42 penalty minutes. The Patriotes, who finished 11th in the 15-team league, reached the second round of the playoffs. Laplante scored 4 goals with 1 assist and 9 penalty minutes in eight playoff games. He was selected by Prince Edward Island in the second round (33rd overall) of the 2011 QMJHL Entry Draft.

2011-12: Laplante skated in 57 games for Prince Edward Island as a 16-year-old QMJHL rookie and was Canada Quebec’s leading scorer at the 2012 U17 World Hockey Challenge. Playing on a Rocket team that had the league’s worst record he scored 6 goals with 15 assists and was minus-33 with 33 penalty minutes. Laplante had 5 goals with 2 assists in five games for Canada Quebec.

2012-13: Laplante did not play for the Rocket until February after suffering a serious shoulder injury while skating for Canada at the 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.In 18 regular season games for Prince Edward Island he scored 5 goals with 8 assists and was plus-11 with 12 penalty minutes. The Rocket made the playoffs; finishing third in the Maritimes Division. Laplante led the team with three goals in the six-game playoff series with Val-d’Or and shared the points lead with overage defensemen Alex Micallef (five). He scored 1 goal with 1 assist in five games at the Ivan Hlinka tournament before the shoulder injury as Canada won a gold medal. Laplante played for Canada in the 2013 U18 World Junior Championship in April and was plus-four with 1 assist and 6 penalty minutes in seven games. Not ranked in Central Scouting’s mid-term rankings, Laplante was ranked 50th amongst North American skaters in the final rankings prior to the 2013 NHL Draft.

Talent Analysis

One of the main questions that need to be answered after a player misses significant time due to injury is how their game might be affected when they return. For Laplante, there was no such fear. He continues to throw his body around with reckless abandon, and to play hard in the corners and along the boards. Laplante only appears to have one gear and that is full tilt hockey, shift after shift. He can also hold his own offensively, with a nose for the net and good playmaking abilities.

Future

Laplante signed an entry-level contact with the Vancouver Canucks in May of 2016.

Photo: Halifax Mooseheads teammates Jonathan Drouin (L) and Nathan MacKinnon (C) were two of the top three picks at the 2013 NHL Draft, along with Aleksander Barkov (R) (courtesy of Rich Graessle/Icon SMI)

The 2013 draft eligible class from the QMJHL was touted as being one of the strongest in recent memory, and they certainly lived up to that billing at the NHL Draft.

Photo: Coyotes 12th overall pick Max Domi was the team’s third consecutive first round pick to have a father that played in the NHL (courtesy of Rich Graessle/Icon SMI)

The Phoenix Coyotes made six selections at the 2013 NHL Draft, primarily improving the center depth in the pipeline while still adding depth to the strengths in goal and on defense. The Coyotes draft class does not feature a lot of size, but each of the players makes up for it by competing hard and being willing to throw their weight around anyway.